Does anybody know when single tickets go on sale for the 2013 Met season? If it's roughly the same as recent years, it's Sunday, March 31 or April 7. I've looked all over the ABT site, as well as the Met Opera ticket-buying site for ABT and can't find anything. I did find several notices that ticket prices MAY go up on April 8, depending on demand. That's earlier than last year and perhaps they are waiting to see how subscription sales go. Or that might be the end of the first week of single-ticket sales.

Subscriber priority week for exchanges/purchases begins Sun Mar 17, so I think general public sales will begin the following Sunaday, Mar 24.

That's good news -- I was wondering how this might conflict with Easter Sunday plans. Looks like they'll see how single ticket sales go for a couple of weeks before instituting "dynamic pricing" on April 8.

Do you know if subscribers can make a purchase of a particular seat from the seating chart in that early week or just from a general section, as they can do now?

The subscriber priority week has no option for online seat selection via the internet. Just like anyone else, if a subscriber buys a ticket on the web during the priority week, he is merely selecting the section, not the seat. The only way for a subscriber to pick a specific seat during the priority week is to go to the box office window with the subscriber id card in hand. (Exchanges by mail are also allowed.) That's my understanding and experience based on prior years, and based on what I read in my subscriber packet of materials.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2013 season at the Metropolitan Opera House,May 13-July 6 will be highlighted by the World Premiere of a three-part work set to music by Dmitri Shostakovich and choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, the Company Premiere of Sir Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country and a new production ofLe Corsaire. Tickets for ABT’s Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House are on sale now at the box office.Principal Dancers for the 2013 Metropolitan Opera House season include Roberto Bolle, Herman Cornejo, Irina Dvorovenko, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Natalia Osipova, Veronika Part, Xiomara Reyes, Hee Seo, Polina Semionova, Daniil Simkin, Cory Stearns, Ivan Vasiliev and Diana Vishneva. American Airlines is the Official Airline of American Ballet Theatre. Northern Trust is the Leading Sponsor of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. ABT is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2013 Spring season opens with a Gala Performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 13 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3310.

Guest ArtistsGuest Artists for the 2013 Spring season include Alina Cojocaru, principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, and Vadim Muntagirov, principal dancer with English National Ballet. Cojocaru will perform the role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, opposite Herman Cornejo as Prince Siegfried, on Friday, June 21 and Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, opposite Cornejo as Prince Désiré, on Wednesday evening, July 3. Muntagirov will dance the role of Prince Désiré, opposite Hee Seo as Princess Aurora, on Tuesday, July 2.

Exchange ArtistsSteven McRae, a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, and Alban Lendorf, a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, will perform as Exchange Artists during ABT's 2013 Spring season as part of an exchange program with their respective companies. McRae will dance the role of Lankendem in Le Corsaire at the matinee on Wednesday, June 5 and the evening performance on Saturday, June 8. Lendorf will perform Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, opposite Xiomara Reyes as Princess Aurora, at the matinee on Saturday, July 6.

World Premiere The season will be highlighted by the World Premiere of a complete evening of three works by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky on Friday, May 31. Ratmansky’s works are set to symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich and feature scenery by George Tsypin, costumes by Keso Dekker and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The first work,Symphony #9, was given its World Premiere at New York City Center on October 18,2012, led by Polina Semionova, Marcelo Gomes, Herman Cornejo, Simone Messmer andCraig Salstein. Symphony #9 will be performed by the same cast on May 31, alongside the World Premieres of the second and third works. The second work, set to Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony for Strings (Op. 110a), will be led by David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent and Isabella Boylston. The evening’s third work, set to Symphony No.1, will be led by Diana Vishneva, Calvin Royal III, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev. The complete Shostakovich evening will receive four performances through June 3.

Company Premiere American Ballet Theatre will present four performances of mixed repertoryMay 21-23. Sir Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country will be given its ABT Company Premiere on Tuesday evening, May 21, led by Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle. Based on the play of the same name by Ivan Turgenev, A Month In the Country features music by Frédéric Chopin, arranged by John Lanchbery, with designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman and lighting by John B. Read. The libretto tells the story of an elegant Russian household thrown into turmoil by the presence of a young tutor. A Month in the Country received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on February 12, 1976, led by Lynn Seymour as Natalia Petrovna and Anthony Dowell as Beliaev. The ballet is staged for ABT by Grant Coyle.

Revival and Repertory Program Sharing the program with A Month in the Country will be the revival of George Balanchine’s Symphony in C and Mark Morris’ Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes. Symphony in C, featuring music by Georges Bizet, costumes after Karinska and lighting by Mark Stanley, was given its World Premiere by the Paris Opera Ballet under the title Le Palais de Cristal on July 8, 1947 and received its United States Premiere by Ballet Society (now New York City Ballet) on March 22, 1948. ABT first performed the ballet2013 SPRING SEASON AT MET – Page 4

at City Center in New York on October 23, 2001, led by Paloma Herrera, Ethan Stiefel,Nina Ananiashvili, Jose Manuel Carreño, Ashley Tuttle, Angel Corella, Sandra Brown and Sascha Radetsky. Symphony in C received its Revival Premiere on February 22,2013 at the Hong Kong Cultural Center in Hong Kong, China. The ballet is staged for ABT by Merrill Ashley and Stacey Caddell.Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, a work for twelve dancers, is staged by Tina Fehlandt and features music by Virgil Thomson and costumes by Santo Loquasto. Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes was given its World Premiere by ABT on May 31, 1988. An excerpt of the ballet was given its first performance at the Dancing For Life benefit at the New York State Theater on October 5, 1987.

All-New Production of Le Corsaire American Ballet Theatre will present a new production of Le Corsaire, with sets by Christian Prego, costumes by Aníbal Lápiz and lighting by Brad Fields, on Tuesday, June 4, led by Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, Herman Cornejo, Daniil Simkin and Isabella Boylston. Based on the Lord Byron poem “The Corsair” (1814), the ballet features choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa, and staging by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa and Sergeyev, with music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenbourg. Le Corsaire received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 19, 1998 with Nina Ananiashvili (Medora), Ashley Tuttle (Gulnare), Giuseppe Picone (Conrad), Angel Corella (Birbanto), Jose Manuel Carreño (Ali, the slave) and Vladimir Malakhov (Lankendem). This new production was premiered by Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 18, 2011 and will receive its ABT Company Premiere at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. on April 11, 2013.

Full-Length BalletsAmerican Ballet Theatre’s 2013 Spring Season at The Metropolitan Opera House will feature an additional six full-length ballets during the eight-week engagement.

The Company will perform John Cranko’s Onegin beginning Tuesday, May 14 with Julie Kent as Tatiana and Roberto Bolle as Onegin. On Saturday evening, May 18, Irina Dvorovenko will give her final performance with American Ballet Theatre in therole of Tatiana. Set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, arranged and orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze, Onegin is based on the poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. Onegin received its World Premiere on April 13, 1965 by the Stuttgart Ballet in Stuttgart, Germany. The ballet received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 1, 2001 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York with Julie Kent (Tatiana), Robert Hill (Onegin), Vladimir Malakhov (Lensky) and Maria Riccetto (Olga). This new production, with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by James F. Ingalls, was premiered by the National Ballet of Canada on June 19, 2010 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada and was first performed by ABT on June 4, 2012 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Staged for ABT by Reid Anderson and Jane Bourne, Onegin will be given eight performances May 14 through 20. The first of eight performances of Don Quixote will be led by Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo on Friday evening, May 24. This performance will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ms. Reyes and Mr. Cornejo as Principal Dancers with ABT. Staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones, with choreography after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, Don Quixote is set to music by Ludwig Minkus and features scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Natasha Katz. The McKenzie/Jones staging of the current production was first performed by ABT on June 12, 1995.Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet will be given eight performances beginning Monday evening, June 10 with Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes in the title roles. Set to the score by Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. The ballet received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet in London on February 9, 1965 and was given its ABT Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 22, 1985. Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday, June 17 with Polina Semionova andDavid Hallberg leading the opening night cast. Swan Lake is set to the score by PeterIlyitch Tchaikovsky and features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler. This production of Swan Lake premiered on March 24, 2000 at theKennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. with Julie Kent (Odette-Odile), Angel Corella (Prince Siegfried) and Marcelo Gomes (von Rothbart). Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes will dance the leading roles in the season’s first performance of Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia on Monday evening, June 24. A ballet in three acts, Sylvia is set to music by Léo Delibes and features costumes and scenery after original designs by Robin and Christopher Ironside. Additional designs for the revival of Sylvia are by Peter Farmer and lighting is by Mark Jonathan. The World Premiere of the original production of Sylvia was given by The Royal Ballet on September 3, 1952 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, danced by Margot Fonteyn (Sylvia), Michael Somes (Aminta), John Hart (Orion) and Alexander Grant (Eros). The World Premiere of the revival of Sylvia by was given by The Royal Ballet on November 4, 2004 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, danced by Darcey Bussell (Sylvia), Jonathan Cope (Aminta), Thiago Soares (Orion) and Martin Harvey (Eros). Sylvia received its American Ballet Theatre Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on June 3, 2005, danced by Gillian Murphy (Sylvia), Maxim Beloserkovsky (Aminta), Marcelo Gomes (Orion) and Herman Cornejo (Eros). The ballet, staged for ABT by Christopher Newton, will receive eight performances through June 29. The final week of the eight-week Metropolitan Opera House season will feature seven performances of The Sleeping Beauty, July 1-6. Set to a score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed after Marius Petipa, has additional choreography and staging by Kevin McKenzie, Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov. The production features scenery by Tony Walton, costumes by Willa Kim with additional designs by Holly Hynes, and lighting by Richard Pilbrow and Dawn Chiang. Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns will lead the season’s first performance of The Sleeping Beauty on Monday evening, July 1. This production of The Sleeping Beauty received its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on June 1, 2007, with Veronika Part (PrincessAurora), Marcelo Gomes (Prince Désiré), Michele Wiles (Lilac Fairy), Martine van Hamel (Carabosse) and Herman Cornejo (Bluebird).

ABTKIDSABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, June 1 at 11:30 A.M. All tickets for ABTKids are $25.

ABTKids Workshop SeriesABTKids Workshop Series, one-hour activity-based programs led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to ABTKids ticket holders on Saturday, June 1(9:30 A.M.) and to matinee ticket holders Saturday, June 15 (11:00 A.M.) and Saturday, June 29 (11:00 A.M). Saturday workshops will be held in the rehearsal studios of theMetropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person. For tickets and more information on the ABTKids Workshop series, please call 212-419-4321.

Single tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2013 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House are available at the Met box office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT’s website www.abt.org. The Metropolitan Opera House is located on Broadway between 64th and 65th streets in New York City.

David H. Koch is the Lead Underwriter of the World Premiere Shostakovich Works. This production is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Foundation is a Premier Sponsor. Linda Allard is a Premier Sponsor of the costumes for the World Premiere Shostakovich Works. Mary Jo and Ted Shen and an anonymous donor are Leading Sponsors of the World Premiere Shostakovich Works. Sponsorship support has also been generously provided by Edward and Caroline Hyman and Michele and Steven Pesner. This production has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

American Ballet Theatre's performances of Le Corsaire are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Irene and Fred Shen.

Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes is generously supported through an endowed gift from Monica, Stefano, Cosima and Tassilo Corsi.

Onegin is generously supported through an endowed gift from Ruth and Harold Newman.

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2013 SPRING SEASON AT MET – Page 8

Don Quixote is generously supported through an endowed gift from Anka K. Palitz, in memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr.

American Ballet Theatre's performances of Romeo and Juliet are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Ali and Monica Wambold.

Sylvia is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Joan Taub Ades and Alan M. Ades, Adrienne Arsht, Arlene and Harvey Blau, Devon and Peter Briger, Susan and Leonard Feinstein, Edward A. Fox, Lori and Stephen Garofalo, Julia and David H. Koch, Konrad R. Kruger, Jill L. Leinbach, Charlotte and Macdonald Mathey, and Jean and Lawrence Shaw are Co-Underwriters of The Sleeping Beauty. Additional funding provided by the NIB Foundation. Special thanks to Caroline Newhouse. This production has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The ABTKids performance is generously supported through an endowed gift from Thomas and Lydia West, in loving memory of Vivian B. West.

David Hallberg ‏@DavidHallberg[size="2"]10h[/size]breathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathe

If you look at casting on the ABT site, this might explain what it was about: TBAs have appeared for his Don Q's and Corsaire. He's still listed for several other things. Puzzling... http://www.abt.org/c...rtdate=5/1/2013

This article, published March 28, 2013, might help explain Hallberg's cancellation of a portion of his ABT schedule. Relevant portion:Question: Do you know when you'll go back [to the Bolshoi]?In June, I was supposed to be there now, February to April, but I had an injury. I'm not quite ready yet.Question: You had a sprained ankle and a broken ...The sprain had completely healed, but then I fractured my foot. I've had some setbacks as well. It shouldn't have taken this long to heal. But it has.

My read on these comments is that Hallberg has been unable to rehearse w. the Bolshoi due to his continuing injury. He is appearing w. the Bolshoi in London, I believe, this summer. It would appear that he had to give up some of his ABT time in order to rehearse w. the Bolshoi in preparation for his upcoming performances with the company. It would be nice if Hallberg himself posted some info on his twitter or facebook page to explain to his ABT fan base the reason for his cancellation. I would guess that there of plenty of people who bought tickets for his cancelled performances. Cancellation due to injury is always understandable. Cancellation for other reasons, however, requires some sort of explanation, in my opinion.

My read on these comments is that Hallberg has been unable to rehearse w. the Bolshoi due to his continuing injury. He is appearing w. the Bolshoi in London, I believe, this summer. It would appear that he had to give up some of his ABT time in order to rehearse w. the Bolshoi in preparation for his upcoming performances with the company.

My read on these comments is that Hallberg has been unable to rehearse w. the Bolshoi due to his continuing injury. He is appearing w. the Bolshoi in London, I believe, this summer. It would appear that he had to give up some of his ABT time in order to rehearse w. the Bolshoi in preparation for his upcoming performances with the company.